Darius I and The Greatest Lie in History

Assassination, conspiracy and cover-ups – what
more could we want in a story about Imperial succession? The First Persian Empire was one
of the greatest that ever existed. An expertly organised economy, a relatively tolerant and
lenient provincial system, along with other groundbreaking advances in human civilisation,
was combined with some of the most scandalous and bloody court politics in the history of
the world. Much of ancient Persia’s prominence and prosperity was made possible by one man,
perhaps the most competent ruler Persia ever produced – Darius I the Great. Welcome to
our video on Darius the Great and the story of how he rose to become the King of Kings. The Neo-Assyrian Empire had dominated the
ancient near-east for three-hundred years, but its final destruction in 612 BC prompted
the emergence of a multipolar geopolitical situation in the region. Four major powers
jostled for the remnants of Assyrian glory: Babylon, Egypt, Lydia and the Median Empire,
but they would all soon be eclipsed by another figure from east of the Zagros mountains.
The grandson of Astyages, King of Media, whose name was Cyrus, razed the province of Anshan
in revolt against his overlord. Three years later, in 550BC, Cyrus managed to decisively
defeat Astyages and brought the Medes into his rising Persian empire. Marching his conquering
army west, Cyrus – who was soon to be called Cyrus the Great – then defeated the Lydian
King Croesus after capturing Sardis in 547. Finally, the Mesopotamian power of Babylon
was crushed, and the city itself was captured in 539. Due to his peaceful and humane conduct
during the city’s seizure, Cyrus has been revered ever since by Iranians as the inventor
of human rights. After spending the following period administering his new empire, this
‘king of the universe’, as he was now known, passed away around 530BC. How this
monumental figure in world history died is variable in the sources. Herodotus states
that the king was killed in battle with the ancient Scythian queen Tomyris, while Xenophon
believed he died in his sleep. “The following is what was done by me after
I became king. A son of Cyrus, named Cambyses, one of our dynasty, was king here before me.
That Cambyses had a brother, Bardiya by name, of the same mother and the same father as
Cambyses. Afterwards, Cambyses slew this Bardiya. When Cambyses slew Bardiya, it was not known
unto the people that Bardiya was slain.” Before his death, Cyrus had taken measures
to mitigate the traditional dangers of succession in monarchy. In order to secure his dynasty,
the first King of Kings fathered three daughters and, more crucially, two sons. His elder son,
Cambyses, was appointed the crown prince, to inherit the newly won empire after Cyrus’
death. The younger son, Bardiya, was appointed governor of Bactria, the largest and most
important of the eastern satrapies. Moreover, he was granted additional privileges compared
to a regular, non-royal satrap, being exempt from the payment of taxation or tribute to
the central authority. These measures were clearly taken with the
intention of neutralising any insurrectionist ambition from Bardiya, but they could equally
have intensified such an urge. Cyrus’ plans for the world of the future were clear to
all. Cambyses would sit on the throne while Bardiya would be his loyal lieutenant in the
eastern satrapies. To hammer the point home even further, Cambyses was married to two
of his own sisters. After all, as historian Tom Holland states in his book Persian Fire:
“Who worthier of Cyrus’ daughters than Cyrus’ son?”. Nevertheless, after the
great king’s corpse was interred in a sarcophagus of gold at Pasargadae, Bardiya set to establishing
himself in the east, while the incumbent king Cambyses marched on the fourth and final great
regional power: Egypt. Using an attempted deception by the Pharaoh
Amasis II as a casus belli – (he had attempted to send another girl to him in place of his
daughter, who Cambyses wished to be his mistress), the Persian king advanced into Egypt via a
combined land and sea attack. This was a stunning success, and the Persians decisively defeated
Amasis’ son, Psammeneitus, at Pelusium in 525.
After subjugating the Egyptians, Cambyses marched south into Nubia. While attempting
to subdue the African kingdoms there, his army was gradually destroyed by a lack of
provisions and the hostile desert conditions. Weakened as it was, this ‘lost army of Cambyses’
was buried in the desert by sandstorms, where it supposedly remains to this day.
This failure strained the Persian king’s mind to breaking point, and he began to descend
into paranoia and madness. Matters became even worse when Cambyses entered Memphis to
the jubilous celebrations of local people and their rulers, who were performing a religious
festival in honour of the god Apis. Seeing the revelry, the half-mad Persian king was
furious, believing the celebrations were actually prompted by his army’s misfortunes in the
southern desert. With this in his mind, Cambyses ordered the sacred Apis bull brought to him
and then stabbed it in the thigh, killing the creature which was revered as a representation
of Apis in the Egyptian religion. To top his actions off, he also executed the leaders
of Memphis who had, or so he thought, instigated such joy at his expense. “There was a certain man, a Magus [maygus],
Gaumâta by name, who raised a rebellion in Paishiyauvada, in a mountain called Arakadriš.
On the fourteenth day of the month Viyaxana did he rebel. He lied to the people, saying:
‘I am Bardiya, the son of Cyrus, the brother of Cambyses.’” Descending ever further into paranoia and
violence, Cambyses now ordered that his brother Bardiya be executed. Why? The king had a dream
in which he saw Bardiya sitting on the throne, and so he feared an attempt at usurpation.
After sending representatives to do the deed in secret, the younger of Cyrus’ sons was
killed, either on a hunting trip or by drowning in the Red Sea.
An almost comical series of typically insane actions followed this assassination. The king
wished to marry his sister against Persian tradition, but then personally killed her
for sympathising with the dead Bardiya. Then, after this ‘mad king’ subsequently had
some of the most prominent Persian officials buried alive, Croesus – the former king of
Lydia and now an advisor to the great kings – chided him for it. Getting angry at this
backchat, Cambyses then tried to kill Bardiya [Croesus?] with a bow and arrow, but Croesus
managed to escape. After sending assassins to do the job for
him, who actually ended up protecting the august Croesus, Cambyses changed his mind
and ordered that his advisor be spared. He was happy that the act had not been carried
out, nevertheless he executed those men who had delayed.
It is at this point, as the great Persian king descended further into madness in Egypt,
that two Magi brothers rebelled against the throne in Persia proper, one of whom was said
to look like the dead Bardiya. The insurrection of this lookalike ‘magus’, known as Gaumata,
began on March 11th, 522, and Babylonian tablets began to be dated to the reign of the false
king. Heralds were sent from the new pretender king
across the empire, proclaiming a new reign and informing the provinces that tribute and
levies would not be extracted for three years under ‘Bardiya’. The people, who did not
know of the real Bardiya’s death at the hands of insane Cambyses, began to pledge
their loyalty to the man whom they believed was Cyrus’ surviving son.
One of Gaumata’s emissaries made his way to Egypt, appearing before the army commanded
by Cambyses. This man boldly told the soldiers that they must not obey Cambyses anymore,
but Bardiya instead. The army did not heed this command, but the king learned from this
herald that it was not ‘Bardiya’ himself who gave the order, but instead a man named
Patizeithes, the second magus, and one who had been left in charge of the royal household
while Cambyses was in Egypt. Realising he now had a revolt to quell, the
king hastily jumped on his horse to lead the army home. However, as Cambyses mounted his
steed, the scabbard slipped from a sword on his lap and the sharp blade consequently wounded
him. In a karmic twist, he was wounded in the same place that he had stabbed the Apis
bull, in the thigh. The wound quickly became infected and rotten, and Cambyses realised
that he was going to die. Only now did the mad king realise that his dream of Bardiya’s
seizure of the throne had been true, but only of the imposter magus Gaumata instead.
Realising he had killed his brother for no reason, the king wept and urged his highborn
Persian attendants to take back the empire in an emotional scene, during which he seems
to have regained some sanity. After this, he died, having reigned for eight years. During
these final hours, one man who had notably been at the king’s side was his ‘lance-bearer’
– Darius. For eight months after Cambyses’ untimely
death, Gaumata ruled as a pretender king and it seemed as though he would get away with
it. On the eighth month however, the magus’ deceptions were discovered.
A Persian aristocrat, known as Otanes, was of high standing and extremely wealthy – a
member of the empire’s ruling class. His daughter Phaedyne had married Cambyses and
was now wed to Gaumata, along with the majority of Cambyses’ former wives. Suspecting that
this king ‘Bardiya’ was not who he said, Otanes asked his daughter to check the ears
of her husband when she occupied the royal bed again. This was because he knew that Cambyses
had removed the ears of Gaumata years before, and this would still be the case even IF he
looked like Bardiya in other ways. When Otanes received confirmation that the
man’s ears had indeed been cut, he decided to act. He could not do so alone, so he approached
two other highborn Persians whom he felt comfortable trusting. These were Aspathines and Gobryas.
Realising they would need additional help, the three conspirators each recruited their
most trusted acquaintance into the fellowship. Otanes brought Intaphrenes, Gobryas called
upon Megabyzus and Aspathines trusted in Hydarnes. Finally, a seventh man entered the conspiracy
seemingly out of the blue – the aforementioned Darius. He was trusted due to his lofty status
as Cambyses II’s lance-bearer and the fact that his father – Hystaspes, was a well-regarded
satrap of Persia. The Conspiracy of the Seven was now in motion. “There were none who dared to act against
Gaumata, the Magus, until I came! Then I prayed to Ahura Mazda; Ahura Mazda brought me help.
On the tenth day of the month Bâgayâdiš I, with a few men, slew that Gaumâta, the
Magus, and the chief men who were his followers.” – Behistun Inscription During the first meeting of The Seven, a debate
broke out between Otanes and Darius regarding what path to take in the execution of their
plan to remove the magi from power. Otanes argued for restraint and to wait until more
information emerged, and until the group had more allies. In contrast, Darius urged immediate
action, arguing that only evil would come of delay and that, for monetary gain, somebody
would probably betray them to the magus king if too many learned of their plan.
Acquiescing to Darius’ point of view, Otanes asked him how the group would gain entry into
the fortress so that they could assail the two magi. Darius argued that due to the The
Seven’s lofty status as the very highest aristocrats and leaders of the Persian empire,
the guards would not dare to refuse them entry, partly through reverence and partly through
fear. Moreover, Darius would inform them of a letter he had been instructed to give from
his illustrious father to the king. This plan persuaded the conspirators that they would
succeed, and they all came over to Darius’ point of view. With their confidence raised,
the Seven set off for the fortress of Sikyavautish, from which the magus ruled. When the group approached the fortress gate,
Darius’ plan came into effect immediately. The gate guards, out of respect for the chief
men of Persia and lacking knowledge as to their purpose, allowed them entry. Stage one
of the plan was complete without a hitch. Upon entering the courtyard, the conspirators
were approached by a gathering of royal eunuchs, who asked the oligarchs why they had come
and chided the gate guards for allowing them in. It was at that moment that the Seven aristocrats
drew their daggers and attacked the eunuchs, quickly stabbing those men who barred their
path and progressing into the apartments where the magi pretenders Gaumata and Patizeithes
were sat talking. Inside, the two men had heard the commotion
with the eunuchs and armed themselves; Gaumata with a bow and Patizeithes with his spear.
During the ensuing fight, Gaumata was immediately on the back foot due to only having a bow
in close combat. However, his companion struck Aspathines in the thigh and stabbed Intaphrenes
in the eye, resisting fiercely. Nevertheless, Gaumata began to flee from the
fight and went to close the door on his pursuers, but Darius and Gobryas barrelled after him
into the darkened chamber. Gobryas tackled the false Bardiya to the ground, and the two
began grappling together in the darkness of the room. Darius stood idle with blade in
hand, to which Gobryas asked why he did not strike – Darius replied “For fear of stabbing
you!”. His companion told Darius to strike anyway, and so he did. The false king was
killed, while Gobryas was uninjured. The Conspiracy of the Seven had been a stunning success. I restored that which had been taken away,
as it was in the days of old. This did I by the grace of Ahuramazda, I labored until I
had established our dynasty in its place, as in the days of old; I labored, by the grace
of Ahura Mazda, so that Gaumâta, the Magus, did not dispossess our house. When the Persians heard what had been done
inside the fortress at Sikyavautish, and how the magi had tricked them, they followed Darius’
example and slew all the magi they could find. Five days after the act had been done, a council
was held between the conspirators to discuss the future of the state. Otanes argued for
a democracy, Megabyzus for oligarchy and Darius for the continuation of monarchy. When all
the arguments were given, four of the seven were persuaded by Darius’ point of view
and, in the subsequent contest for who would become the great king, Darius gained victory
by a trick of his own. He was crowned Darius I, King of Kings and
all was well in the world once again… Or so Darius would have us all believe. Since
the very beginning of this tale, only the words of Darius himself have been heard – his
version of events. For almost two millennia, this story was accepted without question,
but modern times have given us new sources and new methods. Using these, it is possible
to tell that Darius, that Persian who supposedly hated lies above all else, might just have
perpetuated once of the greatest deceptions in all history. Consider for a moment the possibility that
Cambyses was not insane, and that he did not kill the Apis bull, as newly released records
show he did not. In addition, consider that Cambyses did not kill his brother and it too
was a lie. If Bardiya had not perished at the hands of his elder brother, just how did
he die? Finally, consider the fate of ‘Gaumata the magus’ and entertain the idea that maybe,
instead of being a fake Bardiya, that he was in fact the real Bardiya. It seems increasingly
likely that it was Bardiya – the rightful heir to the throne, that the conspirators
killed that day in Sikyavautish. New videos on the Iranian history is on the
way, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and pressed the bell button. We would
like to express our gratitude to our Patreon supporters and channel members, who make the
creation of our videos possible. Now, you can also support us by buying our merchandise
via the link in the description. This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch
you on the next one.

Comments 100

Hey gals and guys, we have a job opening!– If you are an animator/illustrator and know Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/After Effect/Premiere better than your neighborhood– Know and love history– Want to be a part of a young and dynamic team and show your content to the millions– Want to earn some money, simultaneously increasing your online presence and exposure, while adding to your portfolio

Here's a very curious bonus fact: Darius mounted a giant monument for himself which is know as The Behistun Inscription. I think the texts appearing in the video are from that monument. In it he boasts how he's the legitimate king and how he has vanquished his enemies. The importance of that text cannot be overstated, because it was written in ancient Sumerian cuneiform script, but in three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Since Old Persain, having descendants, was very well understood, that allowed the historians and linguists to gain a deeper knowledge of Akkadian or Elamite. Without those so much of the information would be lost. The knowledge of Akkadian, a lost Semitic language, in it's stead was very useful for gaining the understanding of Sumerian language with Sumer-Akkadian bilingual texts being found. Even a dictionary of those two languages. Without those, The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, would be perfectly incomprehensible for us. By writing a giant boast-piece, Darius accidentally gave us so much information about antique languages, history and literature.

“I will not go not your homes “ words of Alexander the Great to the people of Babylon. In reference to Cyrus’s violent conquering of Babylon and the execution of families hiding weapons against Cyrus in their homes .Human rights ? Lol

The story of the Persian Empire is as interesting as the story of Ancient Greek city states and the story of the Roman Empire. Persian King Cambyses II mental illness remind me of the crazy Roman emperor Caracalla. Nobleman Gaumata was very audacious to impersonated the dead Persian prince Badia and usurped the throne from king Cambyse II. The story of the future king Darius infiltrating the palace to kill the usurper king Garda is good enough to make an Hollywood action movie.

DUD YOU ARE 100% WRONG I am going to explain you with some facts .1- iran exists since 1935 . prior to that it was Turk Gajar empire …

2- perisa has been taken from state of Parsua (Turkish word for state of Parsua ) dumb greek mentality has named this country Persia after a single state . 3- Today's iran's name used to be AR- ATTA . Often country used be called after ruling family such as Zandia country , Gajar country ..4- AR-ATTA's first empire was Qut empire in 2400 BC

MADA had ruled anywhere 75 years to 140 years …. .5- Mada empire had taken ASSYRIANS and URATES by 700 BC. when Cyrus came along there was no assyrians or urates any longer.

6- Assyrians controlled land was given to the Kurds from KHrasun ( afghanistan…_) for being ally with Turk Bialirlk united MADA. 7- Cyrus was grandson of last MADA king STYIRLK where he had educated Cyrus in his palace . In age of 25 Cyrus after Visiting his father's family returned to the HAMMDON and killed his grand father and he stole MADA empire .8- Cyrus the coward became Cyrus the great by westerns and Zionist Jews propaganda because " he freed the Jews in Babylon "9- Babylon was Ally of his grand father MADA king . They welcomed Cyrus in their city. Once again his father genes came out from him and he knifed the host on the back. ..GUM ATTA, leaders of Turk Mugs took the government away from Cyrus and he brought the capital back to the Hamdon.10 -DARIUS was of the 8 men killed GUM ATTA in his house ……….11- Cyrus and Darius were using great Turk army of MADA empire to expand their empire ,12- By the time , gay man attacked Mankind civilization there was no MADA KING KAYOXAXR built army . Turks were way from army …………..

13- 3rd DARIUS running away from Alexander was so shameful where people of the region specially Turks picked up word of DYUS Greek version of Darius for coward . Turk still using DYUS for coward today. 14- All of those Human right B S have been fabricated by fucking Jews under Cyrus names past 100 years…15- No one in Iran knew anything about Cyrus ( korish) or Darius ( daruish) until 1930s . In 1960s University of Chicago was in business fabricating Aryan history in Iran.

16- there is nothing left from that era to prove anything about them . ZERO . JUST NOTHING .LIES and fabrications from JEWS and christians because of their holly books do not make history .

lol what are your sources for this ? no really what are your sources for this ? you a white boy that doesn't even know who is your actual daddy, trying to create documentaries about 2500 years ago about other nations and races, dude stick to your own race and find out who your daddy is first

Pre Asian =first nation of Asia. Pre Asian =ownership of Asia like natives of America owner of America. Iran sir bull land is cow bull is Heritage of aria is bull east is persppels is police east of Asia.

I'm so God Damn tired of u White MF's fucking up history anyone who has really studies history knows these men where Dark Skinned Men, why y'all keep trying to incorporate white faces with black history….listen we all know the truth just stop ok

Whites and Arabs make me laugh Of course like Napolean was defeated in haiti over deseases.. Of course DARIUS had to loose because of the sun or any reason that would not show black dominance on the battlefield 5:14 of course the ran outa food our whatever .Sun Tzu Art of War makes it clear that the terrain is as important as the weather in battle and the tactics and number of soldier LOGISTICS ect. . You go to Africa to take over and you get DESTOYED period.

well this was indeed a famous story but base of Darius known personality I don't like the idea of his being an evil man the though that he killed sons of Cyrus and became king is some thing to think about … ignoring that end theory is not a strong theory but even as an Iranian I would respect Darius even so. knowing he was a better king than any of them if he saw himself the best option and plot things out in this perfect way. I can only respect him

European and greek history is just as bad. A lot of corrupted history started mainly by European historiens to increase thier own prestige and cover real history of other great empires that were not European.

The Persians are portrayed as despotic, oppressive rulers…kind of like modern Iran….wow, what a coincidence…Jewish owned media portraying their enemies as horrible people. But..the holocaust, right? The most dishonest group of people on the planet portray the Spanish as horrid for kicking them out but never tell the part of the story where they opened the gates for the Muslims. After being kicked out of Spain, many went to the Ottoman Empire! Only a people kicked out of more than a 100 jurisdictions in 1500 years need to create a narrative that they are always treated unfairly for absolutely no reason. It is as though the rest of the world are vicious psychopaths whilst they are innocent lambs, peacefully going about their business. Cue the violins and the mournful music.

anyone that isn't old enough to know the movie 300 is based on a comic book made by Stan Lee, it was a CIA funded venture in the 70's in response to the Shah of Iran creating OPEC and the following GAS shortages in the United states. this was because US had forced the Shah of Iran in to a contract that was essentially two parts. Part I the US would help the shah take power back from the democratically elected prime minster of Iran (Mohammad Mosaddegh) in 1953 and would help him maintain power ( through the creation of the shah's secret police "Savak") which was Base of the Nazi SS Handbook that the US had recovered during WWII. in return the shah would have to abide with Part II of the agreement which said he had to sell its national oil at the same discounted price to US and Britain for the next 25 years. when the 25 years was up the shah created OPEC and decided to raise the oil prices to what its Market value was at the time. this lead to him being ousted and the CIA + French Secret service installing the NOW Islamic regime with assurances that the Oil would keep flowing. however the mullahs ended up backstabbing them soon as they consolidated the power in Iran and here we are today. i skipped a lot of detail in the hopes of keeping this short…

NOW THIS TYPE OF FALSIFICATION VIDEO HAPPENS ONLY THROUGH THE DISTORTED EYES OF A BRITISH ACCENT MAN! FOR THE HISTORY OF THE HAKHAMANESHIAN DYNESTY IS FAR DIFFERENT THAN FALSIFIED IN THIS VIDEO. AS A PERSIAN I WOULD ONLY LAUGH AT THIS KIND OF BUBBLE GUM EUROCENTRIC HISTORY! LOL

Great their sources are western historians and Cambyses eyes are crossed and claims Cyrus the great had his son married his daughter ??? This is not even close to what persian historians have documented. I love how some people still try mess up public’s image of incident persian

There's a mistake in the video. There's a difference between the Lost Army of Cambyses and his failed campaign in Nubia. the Lost army was the army sent to the Siwa Oracle, or as Herodotus states "The Campaign against the Ammonians"

History is written by people who did not always documented events as they occurred but were also manipulated by external motivation, like money, bribery, etc. to sway public opinion. I use the simple logic of "I was not there and those who would know are no longer there", so I look at who could have been motivated to do and say what. In this way I come to my own interpretations and conclusions. Most of history is biased.

Cyrus is also known as the liberator of Jews. If it weren't for him, there would probably be no Judaism left. He freed Jews in Babylon from slavery and invited some of them to Persia. after his death, Jews who'd risen to power when Xerxes married Ester, killed close to 100,000 Persians. they even celebrate this incident nowadays during Purim.

Why are you pronouncing Darius like that? You already have this name (taken form Persian of course) is English. The actual spelling of the name is Dariush in which, "a" sounds like first "a" in "Armagedon" , "iu" sounds like "ew" in "few" and "sh" sounds like "sh" in "fish".

History and story two different things .This history ( stories) have been fabricated by JEWS and some of it by Greeks .But how ?????example Old testament or Torah . For more than 1500 years it was stories of older men telling to young men . Until paper got discovered in 16th century . Dry leaves of trees and sticky liquid coming from them mixed and it was cooked like Turks Lavish ( tin bread) .

Like Feardosies's shahnameh This book is about two Turk ruling empires MADA in parsua and other one around CASPIAN sea ,europe and central asia ( suga empire ) or TURAN according Feardosie..Same thing with greeks none senses …. just stories . Has anyone found any Coins from that era . NO. they did not have had roof over their heads ( nothing left if there was) .ADKAD writings on the rocks may not belong to them after all ADKAD writings belong to Assyrians and ADKADS ..If there was a Cyrus he had to be very mixed up man by killing His own Turk grand father and then Knifing his grand fathers ally Babylon on the back after they welcomed him to their city because he was grand son of Stylirlk .

Darius the first after killing Gum Atta was in war with 146 Turk BIALIRLKS ( tribal governments) .In beginning of Cyrus era Turk army was doing the fighting . Turks were no longer in army when GAY man from Europe came along.

i would like to know @9:11 why did you chose to put the photo of a lookalike of our prophet Zarathustra to depict Patizeithes who was a scoundrel basically. Can you please change this image or edit the video , i am a zoroastrian and feel thats not the right thing you have done.

Whether you believe what is known in history, or you are now making up the what ifs of your story. The facts are the Persian youth at the time and this is also marveled by the very Greek historians at the time, who stated this, the Persian youth was taught to ride a horse, shoot the arrow straight and always speak the truth. Truth was the most important duty of ALL Zoroastrain Persians, now you are creating a conspiracy of lies, to make it look like historical truth, it just doesnt bear the smell test.

Awesome video. Please also consider Mazdak for your videos. People normally think the first time communism ideology turned into a social movement it was as part of the industrial revolution. But it was Mazdak and his followers, tho they all were executed.

The greatest Lie in History is obviously the ridiculous official story that is 9-11.A country based on an obvious Lie has no future.Anyway, nice history channel, but facts are facts: the greatest Lie in history is in our recent past, not thousand of years ago